Department of Metallurgical Engineering, IIT (BHU), Varanasi, India

November 2015 Volume 4 Issue 1

BHUMET News Head’s Desk

Dear friends,

I am happy to place before you second issue of newsletter. This issue covers mostly

activities of the department during January to June, 2015. The achievements of our

alumni wherever available are also given. The number of students who have passed

out is also reported. Kindly recall that we had mentioned in the previous newsletter

about peer review report of department the committee suggested introduction of a

course at UG level emphasizing importance of our profession for advancement in

engineering and technology. The department while framing syllabus for various

courses have decided to make provision for this. A course titled ―An Introduction to Metallurgy‖ has been

included in the curriculum. The building of the department has also been revamped on priority basis.

I take this opportunity to inform you that Ministry of Railways Government of India has instituted

Malaviya chair for Railway Technology. The broad areas of research to be taken off related to physical

and mechanical metallurgy. The coordinator of this chair will be Head, Department of Metallurgical

Engineering. The MoU was signed between IIT (BHU) and Ministry of Railways on 8 June 2015 in

presence of honourable minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhu and honourable minister of state for

Railways Shri Manoj Sinha. We are looking forward to your guidance for running this chair in befitting

manner.

I would also like to apprise you that we are in touch with Ministry of Steel for release of funds for

creation of 'Advanced Research Centre on Iron and Steel'. I will keep you posted about this in the next

issue of newsletter.

Please do write for improving us. You are our mainstay.

R.K.Mandal

Malviya Chair for Railway Technology

The Department of Metallurgical Engineering IIT (BHU), Varanasi has

recently setup a Malviya Chair for Railway Technology where department is

the nodal centre and Head of Department is the coordinator for the centre.

Honourable minister of railway Shri Suresh Prabhu and Honourable minister

of state for railways presided on this important occasion on 8th June 2015.

Volume 4 Issue 1

Prof. T.R. Anantharaman Memorial Institute

Lecture

An interactive session was jointly organized by Indian Institute of Metals, Varanasi Student Affiliate

Chapter and Metallurgy Society with Dr. Sanjay Sondhi, Revered Alumnus, Department of

Metallurgical Engineering, IIT (BHU) and Senior Scientist, GE Global Research. He addressed the

students on career and internship opportunities at GE. The event was followed by high tea and

snacks.

Career and Internship Opportunities at GE

In memory of the legendary metallurgist and academic leader, Prof. T.R. Anantharaman, who served

as Director, IT and Rector & Actg. VC, BHU, the Institute has initiated this lecture series. This lecture

is delivered by a metallurgist or materials scientist for outstanding contributions and carries a

memento and a cash award of Rs.30,000/-. This year, Dr. Baldev Raj, Director, National Institute of

Advanced Studies, Bangalore presented a lecture on the topic ―Energy Security and Sustainability:

Approaches and Priorities for Growing and Aspiring India‖. Dr. Baldev Raj praised Prof.

T.R.Anantharaman by narrating some of his anecdotes with Prof. Anantharaman. He stressed on the

importance of inter-relation of ethics, ecosystem, environment and energy. The lecture was presided

over by Prof. Rajeev Sangal, Director, IIT (BHU), Varanasi. After the lecture, snacks were served to all

the students and faculty members.

Maitri Shield

Apart from Technology, the department of metallurgical engineering, IIT (BHU) has its fair share of

sports activities. ―Maitri Shield‖, under the banner of MetSoc, is the commemoration of this very fact.

Similar to preceding year, this year also the department organized Maitri Shield which was held in the

month of March. There was a myriad of sports activities like cricket, badminton, table-tennis, etc. In

all the events, the faculty members were pitted against the students. The students emerged

Metallurgy Day ‘15

Metallurgy Day Celebrations were held on 13th April, 2015. Dr. Baldev Raj, Director, National

Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore was the honourable Chief Guest for the event. Annual

report was presented by Dr. R.K.Mandal, Head of Department, Metallurgical Engineering, IIT (BHU).

Students and staffs of the department were awarded various awards and scholarships for

outstanding performance in their respective fields.

Dr. K.Madan Gopalakrishnan (BARC) and Prof. Anish Upadhayaya, Head of Department, Materials

Science and Engineering, IIT Kanpur were awarded Distinguished Alumnus Award. They shared their

sweet memories attached with the department. The event was followed by high tea and snacks.

Volume 4 Issue 1

victorious after a very thrilling and hard-fought encounter cricket match held at IIT-BHU gymkhana. This

came as a much anticipated win for the students, as the faculty members emerged as winners for last

three consecutive years. A similar high pitched event took place on the badminton court of J&K Hall,

BHU. Representing students, a team of Shivendra Singh Chauhan and Bishal Sao, defeated the team of

Dr. C.K.Behra and Prof. R.K.Mandal in both singles as well as doubles events, thus breaking the trend

followed for the last three years. The result from the table-tennis event was however not favorable for the

students. Here, a team of Prof. R.K.Mandal and Prof. Bratindranath Mukherjee defeated the team of

students in the doubles as well as singles events. In addition to these events, other mind invigorating

sports like carom, chess etc. were also held during these two days which provided a much needed

amusement to both the professors as well as the students alike. The exhilarating encounters were

followed by lunch which provided the students an opportunity to mingle and interact with the faculty

members. A photography session followed whereby the faculty members got photograph clicked with the

final year undergraduate students. The event was finally concluded with the remarks of Head of

Department, Professor R.K.Mandal. In his concluding speech, he appreciated the organization of Maitri

Shield. The importance of holding such events intermittently was also stressed upon. He congratulated

Mr. Rohit Agrawal (General Secretary, Metallurgy Society (MetSoc)) and other members of MetSoc for the

successful organization of the event. Finally, he declared students as the winners of Maitri Shield and

congratulated them for their commendable performance. Though Maitri Shield was like an oasis in the

desert, it was the perfect picture of the harmony that exists between the faculty members and the

students of department of metallurgical engineering, IIT (BHU).

ANVESHAN-2015

The Department of Metallurgical

Engineering, IIT (BHU) has been at

the forefront in changing the

metallurgical landscape in India by

providing world class education and

conducting pioneering research,

imbibing the importance of

collaborative work between

academia and industry to bring

about significant changes. The

s t u d e n t s o f M e t a l l u r g i c a l

Engineering, IIT (BHU) share the

same vision and tried to do their bit

by organising Anveshan‘15, one of

the biggest and well—known annual

festival in the arena of metallurgical and materials engineering all over the country.

Prof. R.K.Mandal and Dr. K.K.Singh with the organising team of Anveshan-2015

Anveshan, the Annual Technical Festival of Department of Metallurgical Engineering, IIT (BHU), Varanasi

was successfully organized on April 11-12 2015. The festival Anveshan has been known over the years

for being a weekend filled with extravaganza where the excitement can make your heartbeat resemble

Brownian motion.

The major events, crafted carefully to match mental palate of the students, were as mentioned:

1. INITIO - The challenge for revolutionary innovators to come forward with solutions that they deem

feasible for industry defined problems. It was an immaculate platform for students to become conversant

with glitches existing in industries and decipher them. The participants were expected to propose a

feasible solution to tackle the problem.

Problem statements of the following industries were released under initio with exciting prize money for

two industries, namely, i) Thermax, Pune ii) Sandvik, Pune

2. INTERNADO - Internado event was organized with the motive of providing a chance to win internships

in foreign universities, esteemed organizations, industries and under renowned personalities via simple

competitions as opposed to a real-life intern hunt with no ends. The participants were expected to deliver

a presentation by suggesting a viable solution to the problem statement proposed by the institutions and

industries.

Internships were provided in following institutions and

industries:

I. University of Vienna, Austria, II. Monash University, Australia,

III. Jacobs University Bremen, Germany, IV. TATA Steel Jamshed-

pur, V. DRDO (RCMA), VI. DRDO (RCI), VII. DRDO (ARCI), VIII.

BARC Mumbai, IX. JSPL, X. Department of Physics (BHU), XI.

Bharat Forge, XII. HINDALCO, Renukut, XIII. Thermax, Pune, XIV.

CSIR-4PI Bangalore, XV. NML Jamshedpur.

3. RIVISTA – A Paper and Poster presentation event with the

motive of encouraging research among the young students was

organized under the banner of Anveshan ‗15 and cash prizes worth ₹ 60,000 were distributed to the

winners. Paper and Posters were presented under a wide range of topics.

4. CODEMET - No technical fest is validated without the incorporation of a coders' den. CODEMET was a

prestigious platform to showcase the coding skills on real life computational problems. CODEMET

provided the awareness about the diverse scope of Metallurgy where, a simple code of few lines

can manage a humongous plant. The winners were awarded with the cash prizes.

Volume 4 Issue 1

An outstation participant presenting during an event of

Anveshan

Anveshan‘15- Career Orientation Workshop

Anveshan'15 conducted a pre-event career orientation workshop. Experienced and successful senior

undergraduate students elucidated methods of tackling final year hurdles like CAT, GRE, GATE and

nuances for interviews during placement season. Among these were Abhas Deva, Shobhit Pandey, Vibhav

Gupta, Abhijeet Nayak, Kartik Venkatraman, Tushar Chaudhary, Parth Shukla, Sidhant Ray and Rohit

Kumar Agrawal. The workshop was targeted at elimination of doubts in the minds of junior undergraduate

students with an objective to abate the unnecessary anxiety that the final year students had gone through

and would not repeat the same mistakes that were generally committed by students who tread on these

paths.

TEM Workshop

TEM workshop was conducted under Anveshan‘15 by

Dr. Bratindranath Mukherjee. Workshop was divided into two

sessions which covered the following topics:

1. Introduction to Transmission Electron Microscopy.

2. Instrumentation of TEM.

3. Sample preparation and analysis in TEM.

Guest Lectures

1. Prof.Vakil Singh

The lecture was aimed at improving the perspective of new

entrants of institute towards the wide scope of Metallurgy and to

manifest the importance of Metallurgists over Mechanical

Engineers and IT techies.

He stressed on giving motivation to new entrants to remove their

uncertainty over metallurgy field through:

Orientation Programme.

Awareness on the elaborated scope of metallurgy.

Regularly notifying students about achievements of the Department and its Alumni.

The lecture was thought-provoking and was attended by a large number of professors and students.

2 Dr.S.D.Kapoor

Dr.S.D.Kapoor shared his experiences at National Mineral Development Corporation. He explained the

spectators about the importance of M.B.A. in the field of mining and metallurgy.He suggested the

students to tap the potential of industry C.S.R. to undertake innovative projects in areas of mutual

Dr. Bratindranath Mukherjee conducting the TEM work-

shop

Prof.Vakil Singh giving his inaugural guest lecture at An-

veshan-2015

Volume 4 Issue 1

Institute Day-2015

interests. He also emphasized on prioritizing the area of research

and the importance of filing patents and technical papers. The

students were advised to take up societal and industrial problems as

their projects which will help them in long run.

Informal Events

Qriosity - Qriosity was an online quizzing event which provided an apt

platform to satisfy the urge to know more.

Snapshot - Snapshot was an informal event which encouraged

budding photographers to present their creativity and perceive

photogenic beauty in materials and metallurgical domain and to

capture the same with some thought behind every click.

Maiden edition of the Institute Day was held over the course of two

days, 27-28 February ‘15, with an aim of showcasing the eminence

of the department. The department was open to the visitors to

observe and appreciate the state-of-the-art research work, advanced equipments and facilities existing in

the department. The research scholars and undergraduate students presented their scholarly work

through fascinating posters. Honourable Director Prof. Rajeev Sangal also appreciated the presented

research work and interacted with the students. The visitors enthusiastically watched a short video

created by the students on iron and steel making which gave them a bird‘s eye view of metallurgy and its

beauty. The event was meticulously managed by the teachers and students of the department.

Dr. R.K.Mandal provided memento to Dr. S.D.Kapoor

after the lecture.

Some of the captivating clicks by the participants

presented during snapshot

Achievements

Teachers’ Achievements

Prof. N.K. Mukhopadhyay — Chaired a Technical Session, in National Workshop on High Entropy

Alloys: Prospects and challenges, IIT Madras, (March 28-29, 2015). Prof. Mukhopadhyay is also

awarded with INAE Chair Professorship, Indian National Academy of Engineering, New Delhi (2015).

Prof. S.N. Ojha — Chaired Prof. P. Ramachandra Rao Memorial Lecture organized at NML Jamshedpur

on March 23, 2015.

Alumni’s Achievements

Prof. Anish Upadhyaya, B.Tech (1994) — Appointed as Head, Department of Materials Science and

Engineering, IIT Kanpur.

Prof. T.A. Abinandanan, B.Tech (1985) — Appointed as Head, Department of Materials Engineering,

IISc Bangalore.

Dr. K. Muraleedharan, B.Tech (1983) - Appointed as Director, CGCRI, Kolkata.

Dr. N Eswara Prasad, B.Tech (1985) - Appointed as Director, DMSRDE, Kanpur.

Student’s Achievements

Abhas Deva - GATE AIR 1 & GRE score 321, currently enrolled as a PhD student, materials science

and engineering, Purdue University, USA.

Shobhit Pandey - GRE score 319, currently enrolled as a PhD student, materials science and

engineering, Northwestern University, USA.

Kartik Venkatraman -GRE score 326 & GATE AIR 79, currently enrolled as a PhD student, materials

science and engineering, Arizona State University, USA.

Sandhya Susarla – GRE score 315, currently enrolled as PhD student, material science and Nano

engineering, Rice University, USA.

Anushka Bansal – GRE score 317, currently enrolled as a PhD student in material science and

engineering, Pennsylvania State University, USA.

Aneeket J. Palankar - Currently pursuing MS from materials science and engineering, UCLA, USA.

Parth Shukla - CAT - 99%ile, currently enrolled as an MBA student at IIM Indore.

Sidhant Ray – Currently enrolled as an MBA student at IIM Ahmedabad.

In the year 2015, 58 B.Tech students, 12 IDD students and 11 M.Tech students have been conferred

with their corresponding degrees.

Published by: Head of Department, Dept. of Metallurgical Engineering, IIT-BHU. Editors: Dr. Kausik Chaattopadhyay, Student Editors:

Mr. Sarvesh Mundra (IDD Part V), Mr. Rajat Arora (IDD Part IV), Mr. Javed Nadindla (B.Tech Part III), Mr. Mayank Jha (B.tech Part III).

PUBLICATIONS & CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

During the year under review, students and faculty members of the department have published more

than 30 research papers in national and international journals of repute. In addition, they have

contributed more than 25 presentations in national and international conferences.